The identification of the dead has become a hellish task. Australian forensic specialists have been sent to Bali to help, but even if all the Australians can be identified, that does not mean they will be coming home anytime soon.

---------Compere: Tony Jones`Reporter: John Stewart

The identification of the dead has become a hellish task. Australian forensic specialists have been sent to Bali to help, but as John Stewart reports, even if all the Australians can be identified, that doesn't mean they'll be coming home anytime soon.

JOHN STEWART: These Queensland police officers left Brisbane today to join a team of 46 Australian forensic experts who'll be helping Indonesian police identify over 190 bodies.

SENIOR SERGEANT KEN RACH, QUEENSLAND POLICE: It will be by far the biggest job that we've ever done.

We've been involved with things like the Childers backpackers fire and various other things over the last number of years.

JOHN STEWART: The Australian team working in Bali includes dental and DNA experts, along with a group of fire, bomb blast and crime scene investigators.

About half of the 190 bodies have been identified by the clothing or jewellery they were wearing.

The next stage involves the lengthy process of collecting the dental records of all missing Australians and comparing those records with bodies in the morgue.

SUPERINTENDENT ANDY TELFER, DISASTER VICTIM IDENTIFICATION COMMITTEE: We require either a positive identification through either fingerprints, dental records or DNA, or otherwise a combination of different things which could include physical descriptions, personal property and those sorts of items.

Often it's a combination of identification material that's available.

JOHN STEWART: If fingerprinting and dental records fail, the next step involves DNA testing.

SUPT ANDY TELFER: With DNA testing, there are a couple of options. One is to obtain DNA profiles from preferably parents, but other family members of the victim.

Secondly to obtain DNA from personal items, from the house or locality of the victim, things like hairbrushes and toothbrushes which contain DNA material on them and this can then be compared with material obtained from the bodies.

JOHN STEWART: But it's unclear whether the technology exists in Bali for such a sophisticated scientific process, and some unidentified bodies may have to be returned to Darwin for the DNA tests to be completed and those tests may take several weeks.

SUPT ANDY TELFER: Unfortunately for family, for relatives, it's a difficult situation, because we need to absolutely sure of course that, as I say, the ante-mortem information matches the post-mortem.

JOHN STEWART: However, even if the bodies are identified, they can't be returned to Australia until they are released by Indonesian authorities and, as the living returned home, the reality of leaving their mates behind was too much.

MAN: I'm sorry. I tried to bring them home.

JOHN STEWART: It may be days or even weeks before the remains of loved ones can follow.